Smoothies

For your sakes, I hope it’s cooling off where you live. But we’re in the desert, and it’s still 115* here most days. Because of this, I’ve been making smoothies a lot lately! This week at my local grocery store they had strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries on sale, so I grabbed some of each. Yesterday’s smoothie was strawberry banana, and today’s was a little bit of everything.

These are SO super easy, VERY healthy, and refreshing. You can go spend a couple bucks to get a smoothie at Jamba Juice, or you can make one yourself for a fraction of the cost that tastes just as great. This is one of those “method more than recipe” type recipes. You can add anything you like to customize. This is just the way I’ve been doing it. You could even add yogurt to yours if you have it on hand to make it more creamy. Or use orange juice (or any other kind of juice) or even just water to thin yours out a bit if you don’t want to use milk. You could even add protein powder or Slim Fast type powder if you’re into that sort of thing.

I think smoothies are a great idea to serve at a breakfast or brunch function. It would be super easy, and you could even have your guests customize their own before you blend them up.

I just saw a breakfast smoothie today on Pinterest that I’m super excited to try out (it has oatmeal in it!), so I’ll post that as soon as I do!

Smoothies
Printable recipe

Ingredients:
fruit
ice
splash of milk

Just put everything except milk into the blender…

…and blend away!

Add a splash of milk, if desired, to thin the consistency. This is because we like straws at our house.

Look at those pretty colors!

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Strawberry Peach Smoothie

I don't know about in your neck of the woods, but in mine, it's bliseteringly hot already. As in, it's been over 100 degrees for a few weeks. Yesterday as dinner time was approaching, I couldn't bring myself to turn on the stove or the oven. I used my trusty electric griddle to make BLT's, and then I remembered a recipe page I'd just clipped from one of my magazines that was full of tons of smoothies. I thought it would be perfect, and it was! Really yummy, refreshing, and my kids all thought I was giving them dessert with their dinner! ;)

When I made it, I wanted something a little thicker, more shake-like, so I added some ice. But that part is totally optional.

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla yogurt
2 cups fresh strawberries
2 cups fresh of frozen sliced peaches
2 tablespoons sugar
ice cubes, optional

Rinse and slice your strawberries.

Put all ingredients into the blender and pulse until thoroughly mixed. Garnish with whole strawberries (cut a slit in them and stick them on the side of the glass) or sliced.

What's your weather like??

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Hawaiian Punch

We love any excuse to have people over, and of course the holidays are a great one! With all those people coming by constantly this time of year, have you found yourself wondering what to serve to drink? Sparkling cider is yummy, but to buy enough to hydrate all your family and friends would end up costing you a pretty penny. Bottled water is a good option, but that's not exactly festive. Milk prices have gone down a little bit, but that's just boring.

This punch is so simple (as in, I'm almost embarrassed to post it because of how simple it is) and good and cheap. Kids and adults all love it. My youngest daughter just turned 2 last month, and I served this at her party. Every adult there asked me how I made it, and every kid had at least 2 glasses full.

As with other things, it's not really a recipe. It's a method. You could change this up in so many ways. Add sherbet, add pineapple rings, add strawberries, use different flavors of juice. . .

Ingredients:
1 2-liter Sprite
1 can Hawaiian's Own frozen juice concentrate

Dump both ingredients into a bowl, mix until concentrate is dissolved, and voila!

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